The films of the Coen Brothers

The Coen Brothers

Two of the most inventive filmmakers working today, Joel and Ethan Coen (pictured on the set of "Raising Arizona") mix a winning, oddball sense of humor with their stories of characters trapped by circumstance in worlds that are daunting, unforgiving, and tinged with an absurdist's view of the universe.

Since their debut in 1984 with "Blood Simple," the Coen Brothers have each received 14 Academy Award nominations for writing, producing, directing, and (under the pseudonym Roderick Jaynes) editing. They've won four Oscars, for "Fargo" and "No Country for Old Men."

In 2018 they released "The Ballad of Buster Scruggs," a collection of Western stories that blended traditional Western literary and movie tropes with an overarching pallor of death, both tragic and tongue-in-cheek, on the American frontier.

By CBSNews.com senior producer David Morgan

Credit: 20th Century Fox

Early Credits

Joel and Ethan Coen grew up in the suburbs of Minneapolis, Minn., and as young boys made Super 8mm films - comedic romps such as "Henry Kissinger, Man on the Go."

After graduating from NYU, Joel Coen was asked by a friend, Sam Raimi, to be an assistant film editor on his horror flick, "The Evil Dead" (left). He also worked as an editor on "Fear No Evil."

Joel and Ethan, who had graduated from Princeton, collaborated on another script for Raimi, "Crimewave," and also co-wrote a crime film to direct themselves.

Credit: New Line Cinema

"Blood Simple"

Dan Hedaya plays a gunshot victim whose wife's lover (John Getz) attempts to finish the job in the Coen Brothers' first film, "Blood Simple." The title was taken from a Dashiell Hammett novel, used to describe the state of mind of one caught in extreme violence.

"Blood Simple" was a stunning debut, winning the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival. Roger Ebert wrote, "It is violent, unrelenting, absurd, and fiendishly clever. There is a cliche I never use: Not for the squeamish. But let me put it this way: 'Blood Simple' may make you squeam."

Credit: Circle Films

"Blood Simple"

M. Emmet Walsh as a sleazy private eye in "Blood Simple."

In addition to writing, directing and producing, the Coen Brothers also edit their films, under the pseudonym Roderick Jaynes.

"We thought it would be poor taste to have our names in the credit that many times," Ethan Coen told CBS News.

Credit: Circle Films

"Raising Arizona"

The Coens' second film was also a crime film, but a deliriously absurd and cartoonish one. "Raising Arizona" told of an infertile couple (Nicolas Cage and Holly Hunter) who plot to steal a baby from a couple who have quintuplets.

"We thought it was unfair some should have so many while others should have so few," said Hi (Cage). "With the benefit of hindsight, maybe it wasn't such a hot idea."

Credit: 20th Century Fox

"Raising Arizona"

Holly Hunter in "Raising Arizona."

Credit: 20th Century Fox

"Raising Arizona"

Baby Nathan Arizona Jr. hitches a ride with the Lone Biker of the Apocalypse in the Coen Brothers' "Raising Arizona."

Credit: 20th Century Fox

"Miller's Crossing"

The tranquil forest setting that is a favored place for committing mob hits, in the Coen Brothers' "Miller's Crossing."

Gabriel Byrne plays an underworld figure's right hand man whose distaste for violence leads him to commit an act of mercy, which costs him terribly.

Credit: 20th Century Fox

"Miller's Crossing"

Albert Finney and Gabriel Byrne, whose trust over matters of business and women is put to the test in "Miller's Crossing."

Credit: 20th Century Fox

"Miller's Crossing"

A dead man's hairpiece falls prey to a curious child in "Miller's Crossing" - an example of the Coen Brothers mixing humor with scenes of violence.

When Leon (Albert Finney) learns that the strongarm man nicknamed Rug was killed, he says, "They took his hair, Tommy. Jesus that's strange. Why would they do that?"

"Barton Fink"

"Barton Fink"

The Hotel Earle - a stand-in for purgatory, perhaps, that is ultimately reduced to flames - in the Coen Brothers' "Barton Fink." Production design by Dennis Gassner.

Credit: 20th Century Fox

"The Hudsucker Proxy"

Tim Robbins with a new invention ("You know, for kids!") in "The Hudsucker Proxy." Robbins plays a mailroom clerk who becomes a front office patsy amid the corporate machinations of giant Hudsucker Industries.

The script was written by the Coens and Sam Raimi in the mid-1980s, but did not go before the cameras until nearly a decade later. Also in the cast were Paul Newman, Jennifer Jason Leigh and Charles Durning.

Credit: Warner Brothers

"The Hudsucker Proxy"

Paul Newman in "The Hudsucker Proxy."

Credit: Warner Brothers

"Fargo"

William H. Macy plays a car salesman who devises a kidnapping plot and hires the wrong guys to put it in action, in the darkly comic crime drama, "Fargo."

The film was the Coen Brothers' biggest critical and commercial success to date, receiving seven Academy Award nominations, and winning the New York Film Critics Circle's Best Film Award.

Credit: Gramercy Pictures

"Fargo"

Frances McDormand (the wife of Joel Coen) won an Academy Award for Best Actress as Police Chief Marge Gunderson in the Coen Brothers' "Fargo."

Credit: Gramercy Pictures

"Fargo"

A wounded Steve Buscemi buries a briefcase holding a fortune in ransom money in "Fargo."

Credit: Gramercy Pictures

"The Big Lebowski"

Jeff Bridges as The Dude in "The Big Lebowski." The infinitely-quotable comedy, about a stoner who is mistaken for an upstanding business leader with the same name, is a cult classic, and features one of Bridges' best performances.

Credit: Gramercy Pictures

"The Big Lebowski"

John Goodman and Jeff Bridges bid farewell to the ashes of a friend (kept in a coffee can) in the Coen Brothers' "The Big Lebowski."

Credit: Gramercy Pictures

"The Big Lebowski"

John Turturro played "The Jesus" - a bowler and flasher - in the Coen Brothers' "The Big Lebowski."

Credit: Gramercy Pictures

"O Brother, Where Art Thou?"

Three escapees from a Deep South chain gang, in the Coen Brothers' Depression-Era comedy, "O Brother, Where Art Thou?"

In what was a landmark of cinematography, DP Roger Deakins, a longtime collaborator with the Coens (he received five of his 10 Oscar nominations for their films), had the entire camera negative digitally scanned, and then altered the colors in the computer to create a palette that was warmer and more autumnal than what was filmed on location in Mississippi.

Credit: Buena Vista Pictures

"O Brother, Where Art Thou?"

The film was a joyous throwback to the screwball comedies of the 1930s, made all the more memorable by its soundtrack (by record producer T. Bone Burnett) of "old-timey" country, bluegrass and gospel tunes, which became a multi-platinum bestseller.

Credit: Buena Vista Pictures

"O Brother, Where Art Thou?"

John Turturro, Tim Blake Nelson and George Clooney in the Coen Brothers' "O Brother, Where Art Thou?"

Credit: Buena Vista Pictures

"O Brother, Where Art Thou?"

With a story derived (if tongue-in-cheek) from Homer's "The Odyssey," it's not long before the three travelers encounter sirens on the water: From "O Brother, Where Art Thou?"

"We didn't start with the premise of updating the 'Odyssey,'" Joel Coen told CBS News. "The setting came first. The situation, these three fugitives in the chain gang, given the Clooney character is trying to get back home, it just suggested the 'Odyssey' to us."

Both admit they had never read Homer's epic poem, although they did read the Classic Comics version of it. Ethan said it's "much easier that way. It's very freeing, man. We're thinking of doing an adaptation of Dickens' 'Martin Chuzzlewit.' We figure nobody knows the original and we don't have to read that. We can make up whatever we want."

Credit: Buena Vista Pictures

"The Man Who Wasn't There"

Billy Bob Thorton and Jon Polito in "The Man Who Wasn't There." Shot in color and converted to stunning black-and-white, the film's plot involved a barber who devises a blackmail scheme against a man he believes is having an affair with his wife. There are also dreams of flying saucers.

"Intolerable Cruelty"

Originally attached to other directors and actors, the screenplay for the romantic comedy "Intolerable Cruelty" was taken over by the Coen Brothers and reworked for Catherine Zeta Jones and George Clooney.

Credit: Universal Studios

"The Ladykillers"

Tom Hanks in the Coen Brothers' remake of the Ealing classic, "The Ladykillers," about a group of thieves who plot to murder the boarding room hostess who has discovered their plot.

Credit: Touchstone Pictures

"No Country for Old Men"

If you find a briefcase filled with stacks of cash, it is probably best to just leave it be. Failing to heed that lesson, Josh Brolin plays a hunter whose discovery leads to a bloody cat-and-mouse chase in "No Country for Old Men."

Based on the novel by Cormac McCarthy, the Coen Brothers' film is a triumph of quiet precision and suspense, as law enforcement forces and drug cartel hitmen draw closer to an Everyman whose greatest mistake, it turns out, was an act of compassion.

Credit: Miramax

"No Country for Old Men"

Sheriff Ed Tom Bell (Tommy Lee Jones) has already seen too much in his life, before seeing this: The aftermath of a drug deal gone bad, in the Coen Brothers' "No Country for Old Men."

Credit: Miramax

"No Country for Old Men"

Javier Bardem won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor as the hitman Anton Chigurh in "No Country for Old Men."

Credit: Miramax Films

"No Country for Old Men"

Javier Bardem in "No Country for Old Men."

Credit: Miramax

"No Country for Old Men"

Kelly Macdonald ("Trainspotting") as the wife of Josh Brolin in "No Country for Old Men."

Credit: Miramax

Academy Awards

"Ethan and I have been making stories with movie cameras since we were kids," said Joel Coen, accepting their Academy Award for directing "No Country for Old Men." "Honestly what we do now doesn't feel that much different from what we were doing then.

"We're really thrilled to have received this and we're very thankful to all of you out there for letting us continue to play in our corner of the sandbox."

Credit: AMPAS/Mark Petit

"Burn After Reading"

In the dark comedy, "Burn After Reading," a former CIA analyst's computer files go missing, and are found by some opportunistic but dim-witted gym employees. The game cast included George Clooney, Richard Jenkins, John Malkovich, Brad Pitt and Frances McDormand.

Credit: Focus Features

"Burn After Reading"

A typical setting in a Coen Brothers film: A character discovers they are in completely over their head, as when a dead body is found in "Burn After Reading."

Credit: Focus Features

"A Serious Man"

Michael Stuhlbarg plays a Jewish physics professor in Midwest suburbia suffering a moral crisis as his family is beset by infidelity, a pot-smoking son studying for bar mitzvah, a daughter stealing money to buy a nose job, and a mail-order record club, in "A Serious Man."

Like many other Coen Brothers films, "A Serious Man" tells of characters whose ability to understand the world and their place in it is inhibited by their inability to see themselves - making the world appear even more threatening, and unknowable.

It was the third Coen Brothers film to receive an Oscar nomination for Best Picture.

Credit: Focus Features

"A Serious Man"

"True Grit"

Jeff Bridges as Marshal "Rooster" Cogburn - described as "a pitiless man, double tough, and fear don't enter into his thinking" - in the Coen Brothers' remake of "True Grit." The film, based on Charles Portis' novel, was nominated for 10 Academy Awards, including Best Picture.

Credit: Paramount Pictures

"True Grit"

In her first feature film performance, Hailee Steinfeld received a Best Supporting Actress Oscar nomination as Mattie Ross in "True Grit."

Credit: Paramount Pictures

"Inside Llewyn Davis"

"Inside Llewyn Davis" evokes the folk music scene in 1961 New York City, just on the cusp of a great change in music a-blowin' in the wind. But this is not an against-all-odds Hollywood fantasy about success being heaped upon the deserving; it's about everybody else who struggles with creative expression, perhaps without knowing why, and certainly without a Plan B in case Plan A doesn't quite work out.

Credit: CBS Films

"Inside Llewyn Davis"

The obstacles that come before Llewyn Davis (Oscar Isaac, in a break-out performance) may arise because of his doing (a woman's pregnancy, a fight in a back alley), or from serendipity (a locked door, a missing box of trash, a wandering cat), but Llewyn's struggle to gain sympathy is often self-defeating. He is spiteful, judgmental and crass. While he accuses other musicians of being careerists, he finds himself struggling to maintain a career - what he calls "his work."

As in other Coen Brothers films, the joy of watching "Inside Llewyn Davis" is that of being happily escorted though a minefield of absurdity, shock, and touching humanity, all arising from unexpected places.

Credit: CBS Films

"Inside Llewyn Davis"

"Hail, Caesar!"

"Hail, Caesar!" (2016) depicts the travails of a studio fixer responsible for solving the problems that are throwing a film studio in disarray, such as the kidnapping of their biggest star by a coterie of Communists.

"The Ballad of Buster Scruggs"

"The Ballad of Buster Scruggs" (2018) is made up of six stories set in the Old West which have no real connective tissue, but each possesses a peculiar take on western tropes that have been handed down via Hollywood and pulp authors over the past century-plus. Filmed in the Coen Brothers' typically meticulous style, the stories are recognizably Coenesque in that fate keeps dealing a surprising hand.

The stories, which each inhabit a sort of sub-genre of westerns, were originally written a quarter-century ago. "They were put in a drawer, because they were short movies, and what were we going to do with them?" Joel Coen said. "We probably didn't expect to make them until maybe eight or 10 years ago, when we started thinking, 'Well, maybe we can do these.'"

Pictured: Grainger Hines in "The Gal Who Got Rattled."

Credit: Netflix

"The Ballad of Buster Scruggs"

The Coens fill the frame with extraordinary images – captured in New Mexico, Colorado and Nebraska – that feel plucked from our collective imagination of what the Old West was (or should have been).

A great example is the opening story, and the most hilariously Coenesque: "The Ballad of Buster Scruggs," a takeoff on Gene Autry singing-cowboy oaters, featuring Tim Blake Nelson as Scruggs, who is as handy with a six-shooter as he is a guitar.

Credit: Netflix

"The Ballad of Buster Scruggs"

In "Near Algodones" (top), James Franco plays a bank robber whose luck appears to run out.

In "All Gold Canyon," adapted from a Jack London short story, Tom Waits plays a prospector who is paid an unwelcome visit.

Credit: Netflix

"The Ballad of Buster Scruggs"

In "The Gal Who Got Rattled," Zoe Kazan plays a young women on a covered wagon train to Oregon who finds herself in dire straits.

Credit: Netflix

"The Ballad of Buster Scruggs"

"I met a traveler in an antique land..." Harry Melling as "The Wingless Thrush," performing monologues and dramatic verse on a tour of Western mining towns guided by Liam Neeson, in "Meal Ticket," from the Coen Brothers' "The Ballad of Buster Scruggs."